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AutoNewz - June 2017

Autonewz Newsletter

Welcome to the first AutoNewz of 2017

2016
was a record year at Autoclenz in
terms of new business gains and
customer retention, and after a
busy first half of the year we are aiming
to do it all again.

If
you have any questions on the
topics covered in the newsletter
or about any of our services,
please contact us on: 01283 554682
or email: sales@autoclenz.co.uk

Autoclenz
partners the best across all sectors of the motor industry inc. BCA,
GEFCO, Avis, Motorpoint, Europcar, Mercedes-Benz Retail, Inchcape
Retail and Pendragon to name a few.

The
reasons clients choose Autoclenz
is in the main due to our four
pillars: compliance, account
management, robust service
delivery and innovation. However,
it's not enough to deliver what
you always have. We understand the
challenges that face our clients
and are constantly recommending
solutions, adding value and
delivering.

From
our vast experience across the
industry, we know what best
practice looks like and how to
implement this into your business.
Outsourcing to specialists is the
way forward, so you can focus on
your core activities and have the
best of both worlds.

So
the question is what are you going
to do to improve and enhance your
customers' journey?

An
easy solution is talk to
Autoclenz and let us benchmark
your current arrangements on
valeting, cosmetic repairs,
imaging and collection delivery.

Top
Tip

Currently the norm is for each
service vehicle to receive a Wash,
Leather and Vacuum. Good enough,
but to move it forward how about a
couple of minor tweaks to improve
customer perception?

I would suggest 3 things that can
be added for less than £1.50 per
car.

Dress the tyres as this
gives the retail customer a
'wow' factor when their pride
and joy has been cleaned and
they can clearly see this when
walking up to the vehicle.

Polish the windows as this
is the first thing the
customer looks through when
they drive away.

A squirt of the 'New Car'
essence to remind them of the
day they collected their car.

Industry News

How
does the minimum living wage
increase affect you?

April 2017 saw the national
minimum living wage increase from
£7.20 to £7.50 per hour. In your
business, at this level, this
could potentially affect
receptionists, drivers, cleaners
and certainly valeters. In the
valeting sector this is a
fundamental increase in the cost
of doing business. Direct labour
costs run around 80% and this
increase represents a 4% increase
in labour cost.

Autoclenz
is all about the people, but more
importantly the right people. Our
operators are put through a
gruelling industry leading
compliance checking process to
check their driving licenses,
their ability to legally work in
the UK and that they are who they
say they are. There is a cost to
this and more importantly there is
a cost to adhering to the new
minimum living wage of £7.50 per
hour which supports engaging the
right people.

Over
30% of operators we are asked to
engage with when winning new
contracts from competitors do not
pass our compliance checking
process for reasons such as having
no driving license, no passport /
paperwork or working on a student
visa to name a few. This 'grey'
labour promotes lower rates with
no questions asked, but the risks
that go with this option far
outweigh any potential short term
gains.

Company
News

Bodyshop
Implant – untapped revenues

SMART Repair with vans pulling up
onto your forecourt and spraying
bumper scuffs etc with over spray
covering your stock should be a
thing of the past. Autoclenz has
the solution, the Smartshop. The
Smartshop bridges the gap between
the van in the car park and
vehicles that have to go off site
to a bodyshop. As highlighted
above there are quality issues and
inconvenience with the van in the
car park, and once a vehicle goes
off site to a bodyshop you lose
control of it for a number of
days.

As the Smartshop is permanently on
site it can handle all internal
work at favourable rates and
turnaround times, but more
importantly you can sell these
repairs over the Aftersales desk.
Typically retail margin is 35%.
This important profit stream can
effectively fund your internal
work and improve your customer
satisfaction due to the
convenience of your offering.

The onsite Smartshop is fully
staffed and managed by Autoclenz,
including all staffing for peaks
and holiday / sickness cover. It
is fully H&S compliant with in
built extraction and effectively
is plug and play. All you have to
do is provide a flat area for it
to be installed, a power supply
and give Autoclenz all of your
work at pre agreed rates.
Autoclenz will invest in the
facility and do the rest.

Imaging
– Partnering the Best

Autoclenz is proud to announce
that we will be partnering with
AutosOnShow to give our clients
the best possible imaging solution
in the marketplace.

By teaming up with AutosOnShow we
can plug into their cutting edge
technology to provide our clients
with video, still images and auto
backdrops on every stock vehicle.
The process is simple but very
effective. Autoclenz have trained
operators in the Valet Bay so that
once a valet is complete and QC'd
the vehicle moves to imaging where
a 60 second video and still images
will be taken. This is then
uploaded via iPad / iPhone
technology and recognises the
vehicle by number plate
recognition, all in a matter of
seconds. In fact the upload is
often completed before the vehicle
has left the Valet Bay and moved
on site available for sale. Images
can also have the backgrounds
replaced automatically.

This
solution delivers consistency of
imaging, quality and speed of
upload by making imaging part of
the vehicle preparation process.
It is also important to stress
that video imaging versus still
photography will significantly
improve search engine results for
your stock. Link this with the
AutosOnShow stock imaging portal
and you have complete control over
your shop window.

Autoclenz makes a one off imaging
charge per vehicle which is driven
through our PVMS (Paperless
Vehicle Management System) to give
complete transparency.

Improve
Used Car Performance

In
February, for the 3rd time,
Autoclenz sponsored 'Best Used
Car Performance' category at the
AM Awards in Birmingham.

Right: Martin Peters of Autoclenz
presenting the 'Best Used Car
Performance' award which was won
by Arnold Clark Automobiles

BVRLA
50th Anniversary

Autoclenz
enjoyed the company of some of our valued customers including Europcar,
Avis, Gefco and Sixt at the BVRLA 50th Anniversary Dinner held at
Hilton Park Lane in March.

Valeting Masterclass

Automotive
students at Burton and South Derbyshire College recently took part in a
week long charity car valet, raising £122 for Brake, a road safety and
victim support charity.

Before
the event Autoclenz visited students at the College to deliver an
enriching session on how to professionally valet a car, which in turn
led to students delivering their own car check and valeting for cars
owned by college staff.

Autoclenz
Training Manager, Simon King, thoroughly enjoyed showing the class of
24 how to carry out a full valet from start to finish and says that the
students were interested and engaged throughout the demonstration.

Peter
Brochocki, Deputy Director of Curriculum for Automotive at BSDC said:
"We would like to thank Autoclenz for giving students a masterclass in
car valeting. The project is a great opportunity for students to gain
valuable work experience, providing a high quality service and meeting
customer expectations. It is also a good way for students to use their
skills to raise money for Brake, which is an extremely worthwhile
cause".

Jim Rolfe, Operations Manager at Autoclenz said: "We're
pleased that the demonstration carried out was worthwhile to students
and gave an insight into professional valeting. We are always
trying to introduce sub contract professional valeting to a wider
audience, so this was a great opportunity to help us attract younger
people into the industry"

Testimonials

"I would just like to say what
a pleasure it is to work with a
company like Autoclenz. We never
get any complaints off our
customer only praise for how
clean and spotless there
vehicles are, which is a credit
to Cyril.

Cyril
will do anything to help anyone.
A prime example was when a
customer was going away in his
vehicle at Christmas time, he
stayed until after 6.00 pm to
make sure it was ready for him
to collect at 7.00 the next
morning so as not to ruin
someones Christmas break. The
pride he takes in his work,
shows in the cleanliness of the
vehicles.

Due
to his commitment and the
service that Autoclenz and Cyril
provide I have never even
considered dealing with another
valeting company."

Inchcape
Manchester Paint & Body

"I have had the pleasure in
dealing with Autoclenz over the
past 15 years and I have never
been in need to ever consider
another valeting company due to
the strength of the relationship
that the team have built up and
commitment and attention to
detail that I know they deliver
on a daily basis. Dean has been
a fantastic ambassador for this
business and one that I will
trust implicitly to get the job
done to the exacting standards I
demand.

There is a strong understanding
in terms of what is required
from them and also that the job
of the sub-contracting valeting
company is to manage itself. I
am pleased to say that this
happens. I also get regular
feedback and if there is any
need to speak to one of the team
about anything then I know that
it will be actioned as a
priority. Autoclenz have a lot
of experience in their chosen
field of expertise."

Richard
Fellows, Head of Business, Swindon
Audi

Trafalgar
Awards

Congratulations
to all that have been presented
with Trafalgar Awards during the
first quarter of 2017.